POTD: Bren Ten PROTO-2 – Where 10mm Started

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have the pistol that gave us 10mm Auto, caught in its second prototype form. Tom Dornaus and Mike Dixon started kicking this idea around in 1979. They wanted more rounds and more punch than a 1911 or a 357 revolver could hand a cop, and they brought in Jeff Cooper as technical advisor. Cooper loved the CZ-75 and had no use whatsoever for 9mm Parabellum. Dornaus built the first prototype over five weeks in 1980 in 45 ACP and called it the Combat Service Pistol-80. Cooper looked it over and made two suggestions that changed the entire project: name it BREN TEN as a nod to Brno, and chamber it for a new 10mm round he had in his head. Norma got the job of turning that idea into a real cartridge.

PROTO-2 is where the pivot shows up in metal. PROTO-1 wore 45 ACP on the slide. This is the first one to carry the 10mm.

The company formed in July of 1981, started shipping in 1983 and folded in 1986 after roughly 1,500 guns. Sonny Crockett carrying one on Miami Vice sent demand through the roof and they could not deliver. Plenty of buyers got a pistol with no magazine and a promise, which is about the worst thing you can do to a customer who just waited two years.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Second Prototype Dornaus & Dixon Ent. Inc. Bren Ten Pistol.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/539/second-prototype-dornaus-dixon-ent-inc-bren-ten-pistol. Accessed 10 Sept. 2026.

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